Anti-tunnel group prepares for battle over viaduct proposals

The ongoing debate over what to do with the Alaskan Way Viaduct heated up again Tuesday night in a meeting of a group opposed to any option that includes funding for a tunnel.

P-I night reporter Casey McNerthney was at the meeting in Fremont, and filed this reporter for Seattle@Nite:

The No-Tunnel Alliance unanimously voted Tuesday to endorse an elevated structure to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, and presented anti-tunnel text for the voter’s pamphlet to be distributed in the next two months prior to the March special election.

The alliance also announced the hiring of Michael Grossman as a campaign consultant, and indicated that a Fremont office is expected to serve as alliance headquarters.

In 2003, Grossman helped mastermind Seattle City Councilman David Della’s upset of incumbent Heidi Wills. He also worked as a consultant for former City Council challengers Robert Rosencrantz and Paige Miller, and was behind City Attorney Mark Sidran’s 2001 unsuccessful mayoral campaign.

The advisory measure on how to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct is scheduled for a citywide, all-mail vote March 13, with voters choosing between an elevated structure or a four-lane tunnel.

The No-Tunnel Alliance’s pamphlet text, signed by Della and endorsed by City Council member Nick Licata, promotes a rebuilt Viaduct with six-lanes, and emphasizes that Seattle residents would not be required to pay for additional elevated structure costs, as they would with the tunnel option.

But No-Tunnel Alliance members said costs are the group’s biggest obstacle. The Alliance’s treasurer said Tuesday that the group has only $162 in its bank account after $70 of outstanding bills.

“They only way we’re going to win this is by putting the money down and going out to raise an effective campaign,” co-chair John Fox told the 24 people attending the meeting in Fremont.

A King County Superior Court judge will hear a challenge Thursday to ballot language describing choices Seattleites face in voting on a replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

The challenge, filed Monday by tunnel opponent Peter Sherwin, said the language does not clarify that the state has not agreed to the proposed tunnel, and it doesn’t say significant funding is unsecured for the tunnel option. The challenge also claims the language does not tell voters what city residents may have to pay in taxes for a tunnel.